Thursday, 30 January 2014

Library Books

Our new house is just around the corner from the library, so I signed up to get a library card a couple of weeks ago, and went a bit crazy borrowing books!

Clockwise from top left:

Silvia Pankhurst by Shirley Harrison

I love biographies, especially of interesting women, and you don't get more interesting than the Pankhurst family! Famous for their role in getting women the vote, and their often violent tactics, this covers both the fight for womens' liberation but also Silvia's later life where she travelled extensively, and which I know nothing about. I haven't started this yet, but I am looking forward to diving in.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks

This is one of those famous books which you always feel you should have read, and being such a slim book it took me no time at all to tear through it. It was every bit as funny and interesting as I expected, and now I really want to see the film with Maggie Smith as I can see her being just perfect in the role of Miss Brodie.

Flea Market Style by Emily Chalmers and Ali Hanan

I am obsessed with interior design books, but they are usually a bit on the pricey side, and not something I can afford to bring home from the shops every day. This wasn't something I really expected to find in the library as it is only a little one, but when I found the shelf on design I pounced, and I will definitely be visiting that section again and again! This book may not totally be my ideal style, but I loved looking and the pictures, and it made me super keen to get to some car boot sales again.Earth, Air, Fire and Custard by Tom Holt

I was recommended Tom Holt's books absolutely ages ago, and never got around to reading them until now. This is the third in the series, but it was easy to pick up the story even so, and this is the perfect mix of fantasy and humour, in a very modern Terry Pratchett esque way. The story is of the main character, Paul Carpenter, who is sold by his parents to a firm of magicians and it's such a great send up of the big accountancy and law firms in the city (the author used to be a lawyer), I think I found it extra enjoyable because I recognise so many of the idiosyncrasies of my own office in the descriptions of his workplace!

4 comments:

I love the library. Even on the busiest of Saturdays, there is a level of calm to be found in my local library which is like no other. I try to go and choose something from an author which is new to me within my picks each time, and I try to always finish a book. I've never read any Tom Holt, although I used to love Pratchett.

I haven't read any of these. I love my local library, though it does exercise my patience on occasion when the wait list for a popular title is super long. Right now I'm reading The Hare with Amber Eyes, and it's excellent.